U.S. National News

With Hurricane Florence about 72 Hours away from landfall in either North or South Carolina, PANIC BUYING of food and water supplies has begun.

COSTCO in Charleston has lines literally to the back of the store from cash registers, as shown in the photo. People are already grabbing supplies they need to live; especially since the latest weather forecasts show Florence STALLING for several days over the Carolinas, causing disastrous inland flooding.

It bears mentioning that Dams may have to go into "Emergency Release" mode from all the rainwater, and that animal manure pits may become flooded and contaminate public water supplies -- so people MUST make certain they have a week+ of Emergency water for themselves and their families!

Emergency food is also necessary, but having a way to cook it is now another issue. As was seen in the barrier islands of New JErsey during Hurricane Sandy, storm surge can literally erode the ground to the point that gas lines get ripped up; leaving folks with no gas supplies to cook with. So it is strongly recommended everyone in the Carolinas and Virginia make certain they have propane for gas grills to use for cooking.

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

North Carolina has five nuclear power plants. One in Brunswick is within a few miles of where the hurricane is expected to make landfall. Then there's GE-Wilmington - directly in the Cross Hairs!

Worse, others are downstream from Dams which may fail or which may cause those power plants to flood if the Dam goes into Emergency Release mode.

It is NOT KNOWN if North Carolina has plans to deal with flooding of nuclear power plants, or if, God Forbid, another Fukushima type flooding event could cause failure of any of the plants!

As such, not only should folks be prepared with emergency food and water, but they must also be ready to evacuate on short notice; so vehicles should be completely fueled-up by the end of today.

DO NOT WAIT TO PREPARE because those who wait will find empty or closed gas stations, empty store shelves and no way to get supplies to keep you alive.

PREPARE RIGHT NOW. This storm will make landfall within 72 hours.

UPDATE 9:00 AM EDT MONDAY --

UNC-Wilmington has cancelled all classes for the week and are asking all students to voluntarily evacuate starting 12pm tomorrow

1. Florence will dump copious amounts of rain up and down the Appalachian Mts, especially the leeward sides where orthographic lifting is the greatest. I see 3-4 feet of rain a good possibility when the storm stalls. Areas just west of Lexington and Blacksburg in the deep mountain valleys Va will see huge amounts of rain. The James and Roanoke Rivers will be unrecognizable

2. Any coal dam impoundments will be history especially in W Va. All other dams better be on alert now. If you live downstream of a dam- better think about evacuation preparedness now. Time will be of the essence

3. I-81 and I-77 will be jammed to the hilt. Better fill up your cars now. The place to go right now is east of Knoxville on I-40 for evacuation.

4. Count on major bridges on the interstates and arterial roads to be clogged with debris, damaged or just plain flooded to the point of being closed.

5. Tornadoes will be a huge issue. I see more tornado warnings for this storm than the entire state of NC and Va has had over the past year.

6. Winds will cause record amount of trees to fall because of the saturated soils. Power failures will be measured by the weeks and months, not days.

7. Gas stations along I-81 will be out of gas as the storm stalls. Be prepared

INLAND FLOODING - TORRENTIAL RAINS

People really don't understand how serious this situation is for inland areas. Flooding that will literally destroy big cities or at least significantly damage them. This is nothing to scoff about.

According to 12Z Euro- here are some places that can see devastating rains and flooding (20 inches+ in many of these areas). Wind damage is dangerous, but in hurricanes such as Sandy, Harvey, etc.. rains and surge were really the big stories.

And most points east of these locations (Like Durham, Cape Hatteras, Jacksonville, Willmington, Virginia Beach, etc..) Will also probably have severe rains and devastating winds. Again, nothing to laugh at. Whether you're on the coast or inland.